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VIC: Where does our governor go from here?

Tue, 05/05/2020 - 9:35amVic MacDonald

By Vic MacDonald/Editor

When “this thing” is all over with, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster will be in line for a position in President Trump’s Second-Term Cabinet. Mr. McMaster has done everything the President has instructed during the COVID-19 crisis.

Mr. McMaster was the last governor in a state east of the Mississippi River to declare a modified home-to-work-and-back-again order. Why? President Trump did not want to see these orders enacted, he did not want the cure o be worse than the disease.

Mr. McMaster was one of the first governors to end restrictions on boat landings, beaches, and some retail businesses. He said he would do this ahead of the “peak infection” in South Carolina - that peak came on April 9. Original projections were for May 6, but when the new date passed, Mr. McMaster acted. Why? President Trump wants the country to be “opened up,” authorizing governors to decide when to make that call.

Mr. McMaster was one of the first public officials to endorse then-candidate Trump in the run up to 2016. The president rewarded him by naming then-SC Governor Nikki Haley as Ambassador to the United Nations. When Mr. McMaster receives his Cabinet appointment, South Carolina’s Governor will be Pamela Evette. Governor McMaster, a former SC Attorney General, will be seen in the history books as the between - in between the first female and the second female governors of South Carolina.

Mr. McMaster will leave office as South Carolina’s most powerful governor, as the SC Senate is surrendering to him its advise and consent power. In fact, the General Assembly has been perfectly content to let Mr. McMaster be out-front of the COVID-19 crisis - enacting executive orders in place of potential laws.

Enacting laws is tough business - passing orders is easy.

Both still carry the force of law.

In Mr. McMaster’s case, he avoided the civil unrest now happening in Michigan (with more than 2,000 Coronavirus deaths), by satisfying the fishing lobby and re-opening boat ramps. Thus, no pick-ups and trailers hauling boats blocking the entrances to OUR hospitals. Maybe that’s it - or maybe it’s the fact that civil unrest is happening in the states of Democratic governors - avoided here because our governor is a Republican (just like the president, go figure).

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If there is any “good thing” to come from the COVID-19 crisis, it’s this - Telemarketers are out of work.

The RN Public Relations Group reports, “During Coronavirus we must take silver linings where we can. A new study shows during the pandemic, spam phone calls – a non-medical epidemic – have declined 58% nationally and South Carolina ranks No. 29 seeing the largest decrease of any state. AllAreasCodes.com released a study, Coronavirus Causing Decline in Spam Calls,

after analyzing one million consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on March 8.

“Since that time, South Carolina ranks No. 29 seeing a 55% decrease. Nationally, the number of complaints has steadily decreased every week. March 8 saw a 15% decline, March 22 a 23% decline, and the most recent figures week of April 5 jumped to a 58% decline.

“While the slowing of spam calls likely correlates with the economic shutdown, Americans who receive spam calls remain encouraged to file a complaint with the FTC to continue to combat this issue facing our country.”

It’s Ironic - just when there are more people at home, especially in the ages 5 to 19 group who is most likely to answer the phone, there are fewer people making the calls. Somebody needs to work on The Spammers’ business model.

(Vic MacDonald is editor of The Clinton Chronicle. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Chronicle. MacDonald can be reached at 833-1900 orsports@clintonchronicle.net)